Pokémon: The Journey of Francis Devlin
by Devlin Shadowheart
Summary: Francis Devlin has had a fear of Pokémon after a traumatic event since his early childhood. However, everything soon changes when the League Champion of Unova moves to Devlin's hometown with his family. When Devlin becomes friends with the Champion's daughter, things begin to change. -Reviews would be greatly appreciated-


**Chapter 1**

**Things Once Feared**

I've had a fear of Pokemon ever since I was a little kid. Some people in my town thought I was crazy when I told them that. But I have a very legitimate reason why I fear them. Back when I was around the age of nine or ten, usually the age when a kid obtains or receives his or her own pokemon, I decided to go outside and play with some of my friends who had just gotten their very first pokemon. A few of my friends and I were playing in a meadow not that far from town when it all happened. It first started with the sound of rumbling coming from the ground. The Pokemon that my friends owned had warned them in their own way to get out of the meadow. I couldn't figure out what the sound was, but it was a little too late when I began to see the flowers of the meadow shook violently. By the time I turned my gaze to the origin of the sound, a stampede of a multitude of pokemon had appeared and was stampeding to my direction. While my friends had gotten out of the range of the stampede, I got caught in the middle of the stampede. As each second passed, I felt the pain of each of the stampede's feet hit me all over my body until I fell unconscious.

As I was unconscious, the images of each pokemon stomping me as they ran me over played over and over until I woke up. When I did, I was screaming bloody murder as I came to. The doctors and nurses that were in the room jumped in surprise when I woke up, but it didn't take long until my mother immediately placed her warm, soft hands on my body. It seems that the pokemon stampede nearly had me killed. Some of my ribs were broken along with a few fractured and broken bones on my arms and legs. Honestly, they said it was a miracle for me to have lived through all of that. After months of patient care, I was finally given the okay to be sent home. They did mention to me that my left arm had been badly broken that it was possible it may never heal properly; the same goes with my still healing fractured right leg. As we were walking home, some wild pokemon were on the road. It wasn't long until I panicked and began hyperventilating. That was then I realized… that I would fear and hate pokemon for possibly my entire life.

For over five years, I had stayed away from every kind of pokemon. Regardless of what people thought of me, I actually felt happy. I didn't have to deal with a partner, nor did I have to deal with a Pokemon. It was a good life. However, that all changed when a family moved into our town. I soon overheard from people in my class at school that the family moving in to our town was none other than the Pokemon League Master, Krion Bolton, who succeeded after Iris, the dragon champion, had stepped down. On the day of the move, I was curious. A pokemon league master living in our town, especially his family, this was something I had to see. On the day they moved in, I decided to climb onto the roof of my house to see Champion Bolton and his family. When I found Krion, I couldn't believe how strong he looked. He was a seemingly muscular man with brown spikey hair. Although he was the League master, he didn't act like one as he was moving in. He looked… different. Before he and his family began moving things in, he released his six pokemon so that they can help him move in. As the time went by, I was surprised how sweet and compassionate he was with his Pokemon. Every chance he had gotten he would either praise or pet his six pokemon, and it was easily seen how much his pokemon cared for him. However, I didn't think I could do something like that. After about an hour of moving in, I just stood on the roof watching what was unfolding in front of me. That was, until a female voice snapped me out of focus.

"Hi there!" yelled out the voice at the bottom of my house. I looked down to see a girl about my age looking up at me with a sincere smile. As I looked at her, I saw her short-red hair flow through the wind revealing light freckles and blue eyes. "Why are you up there?" she asked me curiously.

I took a second to think of a different and less stalker-ish way to say _I'm watching you move in, _but I couldn't find one. "Oh, nothing, I just like to climb on my roof."

Of course, she figured out I was lying. Because the next thing I hear is a small cute laugh coming from her, "Liar, you were trying to see my daddy, Unova's Pokemon League Champion." I don't know if it was her laugh or the smile she gave me after, but I immediately smiled back and let out a dry laugh, "Do you mind coming down here," she asked me, "I don't know anyone here." I took a moment to think about it, but then I started climbing down so I can meet this girl. However as I was climbing down, my injury from six years ago kicked in and my left arm gave out making me fall onto the ground as I was nearing the ground. Pain suddenly surged around the left side of my body, but as time quickly passed I slowly opened my eyes to see the girl looking at me in worry. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I said in pain, "I'm fine." Just as I had fully opened my eyes, I felt a baby nuzzle bump into my left cheek. My eyes shifted and I saw a baby eevee standing next to me. Once it saw that I was all right, the baby Eevee smiled. I immediately began to freak out and pushed the baby eevee away from me as I backed up to the wall.

"Hey!" She yelled as she ran to the baby eevee and picked it up and wrapped her arms below its first two paws "Don't push Eevee like that!" She yelled at me now with an angered expression on her face, "it's just a baby pokemon."

"I… I… I'm…" I continued to blurt out in fear.

Just as the commotion was about to commence, my mother ran outside of the house to where the girl and I was, "Honey? Are you all right?" she asked worriedly. Not long after, the girl's parents soon arrived, along with Krion's pokemon.

"Is everything all right?" Krion asked my mother. He looked at his daughter who was still holding the baby eevee and then looked at me still shaking in fear.

My mother sighed in relief knowing that I was okay, but she quickly turned to Krion, introduced herself, and asked them if they all would like to come inside our house. Once inside, my mother gave Krion, his wife, and his daughter drinks and began to tell them the incident I experienced six years ago and how I had gotten my fear, and possible hate, of pokemon. It sucks that I can't like pokemon, but I can't help being so afraid of them. As time passed though, Krion and his wife, Mary, soon became friendly with my mother as they slowly began to laugh at mediocre things. It wasn't long until sunset began to fall. That was when Krion and his wife thanked my mother for her hospitality and wished her to spend some time with them another day. As they said their goodbyes to my mother and I at the door, Krion's daughter stopped and turned to me with the baby eevee on top of her head.

"Hey, I'm really sorry I yelled at you," She began to apologize.

"I-it's no big deal…" I began to say while keeping my gaze at the baby eevee.

She saw what I was doing because she grabbed the baby eevee and put it down next to her, "Eevee?" She commanded its attention, "Wait for me outside okay?" Eevee soon let out a happy sound as it walked outside. "Let's try this again," She said with a bright smile, "Hi, my name is Evelyn, Evelyn Bolton." She said as she put her hand out.

I had finally relaxed a little bit and started to give a small smile, "Francis," I said while focusing on Evelyn, "Francis Devlin."

"Well Francis, considering how I'm new here, why don't we become friends?" She asked me instantly, "I would really appreciate it if we do."

I then looked to see my mother and Evelyn's parents. Regardless that they know what happened, I could see Evelyn's parents only smile at our interaction with each other. Seems like they don't mind their daughter being friends with a weird guy like me. It wasn't long until I brought my gaze back on Evelyn and smiled, "Sure, we can be friends."

Without warning, Evelyn jumped and gave me an enormous hug, which took me by surprise. But… It's a good surprise I thought to myself, "That's awesome! I guess I'll see you soon new buddy!"

"I guess so." I said with a smile as she walked out of my house.

Krion and his family said goodbye once more to us before my mother closed the door. "They seem like a nice family." My mother said to me.

"Yeah, I guess so." I responded.

"I also really like Evelyn, I think you two will be great friends regardless she likes pokemon."

She was right. Because of my fear of pokemon, I really didn't get to make a lot of friends. And now almost as if it was a complete accident, I am now friends with the Unova League Champion's daughter. Maybe, I thought to myself, maybe this time I can actually keep a friend. And to be honest, I did.

**_- Pokemon: JoFT -_**

Over the first few weeks, Evelyn and I hung out with each other almost every day. Retelling our own pasts to each other. Telling each other how we moved to where we were in the present. After a while, talking about our past made us feel like we were friends longer than we first thought. Weeks turned to a month, that month soon multiplied into a few months, and sure enough we got to know each other. Then at one point, as we were eating our own lunches, Evelyn had an idea.

"Hey Francis," She took a bite of her sandwich, "you said you had a horrible experience with Pokemon when you were younger right?" She asked me curiously.

I took a bite of my sandwich, "Well, yeah," I said before swallowing my food in, "I still can't handle being around one." Evelyn kept silent for a moment, but then crosses her arms and begins to think, "What are you planning?"

"Don't you wish you could be friends with a Pokemon, at least one?" That struck chord, I hadn't planned on getting over my fear of Pokemon. I sometimes wondered what I would do if I was friends with a pokemon, but the vivid images of the pokemon stampeding over me was just too strong. Seeing that I was still silent, she snatched her opportunity, "Why don't you become friends with Eevee?"

"Wh-what?"

"Oh come on Francis, my eevee is the sweetest pokemon I know. He wouldn't hurt you unless you hurt him.

I scoffed, "well isn't that reassuring."

Evelyn took a deep breath, "come on please consider trying to be friends with my eevee?" She immediately looked at me with a dire look on her face. Determination.

I took a very long time to think about. To be able to be friends with at least one pokemon was something that wouldn't cross my mind but finally I came up with my conclusion, "All right." I mumbled to her. Just as the words fell out of my mouth I regretted saying them. Me, liking pokemon, after what had happened to me, what the hell was I thinking?

"Excuse me?" Evelyn asked, "I didn't quite hear that."

By that point, it seemed a little too late to take back what I mumbled. Looking at her, I saw her expression changed. Her face seemed brighter than it was before. I could also see her smiling a lot more than she did before. I'll be honest; she's cute when she smiles. "I said okay. We'll go with your plan to be friends with your eevee."

The next thing she did was smile and got a smile on her face, "Awesome, I'll start making a plan." She said as she rose from the ground. Not moments after, she quickly gave me a peck on the cheek. If you could have been there, my face went completely red. Seeing my reaction, she just smiled as she opened my door, "I'll see you around."

"O-okay…" was all I could muster out.

What the hell did I just get myself into?

**_- Pokemon: JoFD -_**

It did not take long for Evelyn to start her "plan" to start. After two days she called me and told me to come to the park. Something told me that it was a bad idea, given my fear of pokemon. Usually the wild pokemon, while not dangerous at all, like to go there during the day since the kids around my town would play with them and sometimes bring food. I tried to tell Evelyn that it wasn't a good idea, but she continued pleading until I finally agreed with her. What a pain that must have been. A few hours later, I was sitting on one of the park benches waiting for her to arrive. I waited for about ten minutes until I finally saw her walking towards me. She had a really huge grin on her face. All I could think is that she had something planned. In a matter of seconds though, a small head popped out from behind Evelyn's head. It was her eevee. "_She brought her eevee along? well that's just great."_ I said in my head as she got near me.

"Hey, don't give me that look. Do you want to get over your fear of pokemon?" Eevee cried out as if agreeing with her.

I sighed, "Do we really have to do this?"

Eevee jumped off of Evelyn's head and started running around the park right after she sat down on the bench next to me, "Come on Francis, our world is full of pokemon. I find it strange that you have this overly obsessive fear of pokemon." I kept silent, "I also can't believe that you're also scared of the cute ones, like eevee."

"Well you never know," I said to her, "they could have an evil plan."

"I think you would have a better evil plan than they would."

"Sh-shut up." I said to her, which then made her laugh.

"Come on Francis, you can't live your life fearing every single pokemon. Pokemon are our companions, and also new friends that we haven't met yet." She then leaned closer to me, "Please," she exaggerated, "let me help you with your fear."

I closed my eyes and thought. What she said is true, everyone who has a pokemon treat them like a loved one to each other. With Evelyn, she sees pokemon as friends, those that can help you on a difficult journey. That all sounded wonderful, and I've seen even kids younger than me going on a journey with their pokemon. It must have been nice. It was at that point that Evelyn had a point. It was then that I did the unthinkable, "All right," I tell her, "Help me get over my fear."

"Yay!" she blurted out as she stood up, "For our first experiment, you're going to pet Eevee." She said while grabbing me by the hand.

"Wait what?!" I said out loud in shock as I was brought to my feet.

"Relax Francis, Eevee won't hurt you. She's the sweetest pokemon I've cared for." I wanted to back out at that very moment, but seeing the glow in her eyes made me consider the option of doing what I thought was impossible. "Eevee!" she called out to it. Not moments after, eevee stood some distance away from me and looked at the two of us. "Eevee, I would like you to help me with breaking Francis' fear of pokemon. Think you can help me do that?" Eevee let out a delightful squeal, "Good!" she smiled back, "Come over here," she ordered her eevee. Could… could I do this? Eevee started to walk towards us, but then she put her hand up as if to stop eevee, "slowly!"

It followed her command. Eevee began to slowly walk towards us. With my fear beginning to act up, I moved one foot behind me, which gave the signal for eevee to stop where she was. My body began to tremble, but then I felt Evelyn's soft hands holding onto my arm, "Please Francis," she said to me in a heartwarming way, "don't leave." Slowly, my trembling began to disappear and I then looked at eevee who was still pretty far away from Evelyn and me. I regained my stance along side her, which gave eevee the signal to move slowly again. It felt like years when eevee slowly crept towards Evelyn and me. But it wasn't long until Eevee was standing right in front of my own two feet. Eevee then sat down and looked up at me. "Bui!" it cried out happily. I slowly began to shake again, but Evelyn quickly grabbed my focus. "Come on Francis, you're almost there. All you have to do is pet Eevee and you'll be one step closer to beating your fear."

"I- I don't know if I can do this," I muttered trying to back away, "Are we missing a few steps before doing this one?"

"Francis," She immediately replied with a stern voice, "Please, trust me." This took me by surprise, the last time Evelyn was close to angry or had this much importance in her voice was when I accidentally shoved eevee out of the way. And now the same eevee, regardless of knowing that I wronged it is helping me fight against my fear. It seems like I had to trust it, and her. I slowly began to squat down almost getting eye-level to Eevee. Eevee stared at me waiting for me to make my move. I reached my hand out, shaking furiously as it slowly got closer and closer to eevee. It was then I began to feel the softness of eevee's fur. When I looked back to see where my hand was, it was on top of eevee's head. I was gently scratching and petting Eevee's head. After a few moments of petting her, Eevee slowly began to let out a satisfying cry. And soon, without even giving me a hint, I began to smile. The more I petted Eevee, I felt as if the fear I had for Pokemon was slowly beginning to disappear. After a while, Evelyn sat down and only smiled at me until Eevee wanted to go to her. Once Evelyn picked up Eevee, I sat down with her, breathing heavily in surprised that I did that. I petted a pokemon.

"Well, I'd say that was a very good first start." Evenly said while putting Eevee on her head and then turned back to me with a smile.

"I guess so," Were the only words that came out of my mouth for that moment. We both stood up as Eevee jumped down to play around the park some more. Both Evelyn and I didn't speak, but I gave her a big hug almost immediately afterwards.

"F-Francis." She said in surprise.

"Thank you for helping me." I said to her as she began to wrap her arms around me. We both stared at each other for a long time, but then we broke the hug once we saw ourselves blushing at each other.

Evelyn cleared her throat, "So, let's take a walk around the park. Let's see if this experiment helped you lessen your fear of pokemon." I could only smile and nod.

Unbeknown to us, behind a tree stood a mysterious man watching both Evelyn and me. He didn't speak a word, but observed what had just happened, "So, you decided to spy on them." Said a voice coming behind him. As the man turned to see who it was, it was none other than Champion Krion's wife, Mrs. Bolton, "I honestly did not expect the champion of Unova being worried about his own daughter."

"Oh come on honey," Krion said to her, "when I was passing by her room one night I overheard her talk about some plan or experiment she had in mind while talking to eevee," Krion said while folding his arms, "Although, now that I saw what she had planned to use her 'experiment' on, I worried a little."

Mrs. Bolton averted her attention to Evelyn and I as we were talking to each other and Eevee still running around, "It seems that what she did worked to some degree." She said with a smile.

"Yes," Krion muttered to himself while staring at Evelyn, "Yes it sure did."

**_- Pokemon: JoFD -_**

Over the course of a few months, Evelyn continued with her plans to rid my fear of pokemon with the help of Eevee. It wasn't long until I was safe for Eevee to run towards me so that she can be petted, although there were still times where I would jump a little. One day, without warning and completely accidental, Eevee was on top of Evelyn's head and it instantly jumped from her head and it quickly grabbed onto my head. That moment freaked me out to no end, but Eevee just struggled to get on top of my own head. After a few seconds of registering what had just happened, I slowly retracted my fear and began to smile as Eevee finally got comfortable and laid there. Evelyn could not believe her eyes. She had told me that Eevee had never done that to anyone she knew, not even her own father. So I guess this was a good sign or something similar to that. All I know is that my fear of pokemon was slowly beginning to disappear, and whether or not it would be completely gone would depend on how well the "treatment" would go. Between Evelyn and I, we didn't tell each other what we truly thought about ourselves. I mean come on, I'm only sixteen, how should I know what to do? However, that thinking was soon about to change.

One night, Evelyn's father had asked her to go to the next town and retrieve something for him. It was a thirty-minute walking trek over the mountain between our town and the next, but Evelyn, having her father's courage, told him that she could do it. She took Eevee along, thinking that the small travel wouldn't be too bad. She arrived at the next town and grabbed what her father needed. However, it started to rain while she was on her way back. Knowing that the traverse through the mountain as dangerous while raining, she still kept her headstrong and went right back up the mountain.

Due to the approach of winter, the skies soon changed into night while she was on her way back. The rain continued to pour down on Evelyn and Eevee as they were slowly walking their way back to town. Eevee let out a worrying cry. "Hey, don't you worry Eevee," Evelyn said as she picked Eevee up and put her on top of her head and later putting her raincoat hood on top of her, "Once we get back we'll take a nice hot shower." Eevee cried happily. However, after a few minutes into her walk, the ground began to crumble. In a matter of seconds, the ground that she had stepped on a second ago had now become an enormous manhole that made Evelyn and Eevee fall into. Feeling completely dazed at what happened, Evelyn quickly shook off her daze and got up. But just as she put pressure on her left foot, she quickly fell back down in pain. Evelyn quickly took off her shoes and lowered her left sock to reveal a deeply purple mark that nearly surrounded her slowly swollen ankle. "Damn it." She muttered to herself. She tried to get back up again, but this time the pain was too great and forced her to fall back down again. Eevee let out a worried cry, and that was when she had an idea. "Eevee, I want you to run back to town and get Francis. Don't get my father, run to Francis and bring him back here." Eevee took no time to hesitate as it began to climb out of the manhole and hurried itself back to town. The rain began to fall harsher and harsher as Evelyn tried to keep herself dry. That was she heard the cry of an Ursaring coming from a distance. She began to whimper, "Hurry."

**_- Pokemon: JoFD -_**

I was looking out the window when a clap of lightning struck with the sound of thunder following suit. I closed my curtains and went downstairs where my mother was in the process of finishing dinner so we can eat. I turned on the TV just in time for the weatherman to give the last minute report, "It seems this storm came out of nowhere. However, it is only just a bad storm with some harsh rain and regular claps of thunder. It is best to stay indoors and…" "Honey, would you please help me with the plates and utensils?" my mom interrupted.

"No problem," I said while getting up and marching my way to the kitchen. As soon as I placed down the utensils, I began to hear scratching noises coming from our door. The noise stopped both my mom and I from what we were doing. It wasn't long until I began to hear Evelyn's Eevee crying out. I quickly opened the door to see Eevee panting itself to death while completely soaked. "Eevee? What are you doing here?!" Eevee let out a worrying cry as I dropped to one knee so I could comfort it, "What's the matter?" I asked as I looked out the door, "Where's Evelyn?" At that moment, Eevee jumped back outside and began crying over and over again as if wanting me to follow her. Eevee then looked over to the mountain where she was previously. It was then that everything soon began to make sense. "Something happened to her?" Eevee let out one more cry before running off into the street. Before I could lose track of Eevee, I immediately grabbed my shoes and stormed out of the house to follow Eevee. _"Evelyn,"_ I said to myself, _"Please… Please be okay!"_

**_- Pokemon: JoFD -_**

Time passed, and the lighting and thunder had been clapping louder and harder than before it started. Evelyn attempted to tune out the sound of thunder, but to no avail. Out in the distance, the roar of an Ursaring could be heard getting closer and closer. She then whimpered a little louder as tears began to fall down her cheeks. Fear had begun to seep into her mind. "Francis, please…" Evelyn muttered out as the rain began to pour down even harder while hoping to get her mind off of the dangers outside the manhole, "Don't flake out now. You might have to face your fears when you trek the mountain and its forest, but I hope you find the courage the come and find me." Just as she had finished her plea, Ursaring's roar echoed in her vicinity. She whimpered loudly this time alerting the Ursaring to where she was. Not long after, The Ursaring popped its head over the hole to see Evelyn at the bottom and began to roar. Her screaming intensified just as the roar reached her ears, "FRANCIS! HELP ME!"

"Eevee! Use your take down to push that Ursaring back!" I yelled out. In that moment, Evelyn's Eevee mustered up as much speed as it could and slammed into Ursaring, pushing it away from the hole Evelyn is stuck in. "Keep Ursaring busy while I help Evelyn!" Eevee let out a cry before distracting Ursaring. Within seconds, I slid next to the hole and looked down at her, "Evelyn!"

"Francis!" She yelled out in happiness, "You came!"

"And in the nick of time too," With that, Francis let out a hand, "Grab on!" It didn't take long for Evelyn rise from the ground with her good foot and grab my hand. Using my good arm, I was able to drag Evelyn out of the hole just in time to see Eevee dodging Ursaring's fury swipes I lowered Evelyn so that she would be sitting on the ground behind him,. As the battle continued, I began to tremble. The fear was coming back. But I could not allow that, Evelyn was in danger! So I mustered up as much strength as I could and shook away the fear. "What moves does Eevee know?"

"Bite, take down, quick attack, and sand attack!"

"Eevee, try to weaken him with a few quick attacks!" I ordered.

Within seconds, Eevee bolted and slammed into Ursaring left and right. However, Ursaring knew this time where Eevee was coming from and slashed at Eevee, pushing Eevee right towards me. Eevee was hit pretty badly as it attempted to get back up from it getting hit, but it had enough strength to continue fighting. "Eevee, are you all right?!" Eevee let out a groaned cry.

"Ursaring is too powerful a pokemon to face right now with Eevee, if you continue fighting, Eevee will faint!"

"Then lets teach Ursaring a lesson!" I told her. My determination to save Evelyn was fixed, and Eevee could feel it too, "Eevee, you think you can hit Ursaring to that tree behind it?" Eevee turned to me, and gave me nod, it must be courageous, "All right then. Eevee! Use take down!" In a matter of seconds Eevee was now charging at Ursaring at full speed. Ursaring, knowing not to be fooled again, swung its claws at Eevee. However, Eevee anticipated the attack and jumped right before its claws could hit it and slammed right into Ursaring's chest, pushing it straight to the tree and breaking the trunk. Eevee quickly came back to Evelyn and me just as the Ursaring got back up. This time however, Ursaring let out a growl and ventured to the opposite corner of the forest. I… I won! I let out a relieving sigh before looking at Eevee who was now limping back to me, "Great job Eevee." I said to it as I knelt down to pet her. I then turned around to see Evelyn trying to get up. "Whoa now!" I said as I grabbed her below her arms to help her up, "Be careful not to fall."

Within seconds, Evelyn soon changed as she looked at me with happiness and tears falling down her eyes, "You came to rescue me."

I smiled back. "Of course I did. I wouldn't be a good friend if I left you out here."

Evelyn let out a small chuckle, "You are one silly boy." We then looked at each other, stared into each other's eyes. And in that moment, we knew the timing was right. Within seconds, we kissed.

I couldn't tell you if it was destiny or if it was fate, but it just felt right. Once the kiss ended, I brought my hand below her knees so I could pick her up. But before I did, Eevee jumped onto Evelyn. "Come on you guys, it's time we went home."

**_- Pokemon: JoFD -_**

It was quite a shock when we returned to town. It seemed that when I ran off with Eevee, my mother ran to Champion Krion and wanted to know what was going on. When we got back, everyone was beyond delighted to see us return, unfortunately with some bruises. However, Evelyn was sent to the doctors to see how bad her leg injury was. In the end, it was passed down as a very horrible sprain that she would need crutches for about three weeks so that the swollen sprain would heal properly. Everyone else however, was surprised that Eevee stood by me during the doctor check-up. Haha, it seems I forgot to mention about my "treatment" to get rid of my pokemon anxiety. After the little incident, Krion made sure that Evelyn wouldn't be in that sort of danger with me, so he would lend her a few of his pokemon if she had to trek the route again after she recovered. A month had passed and it was nearing Christmas. Evelyn and I spent time with each other for a good long while, it was around that time that people began to wonder what we actually were to each other, but we didn't care. We didn't want anything to change.

One day, Champion Krion had an announcement to make that brought almost every single reporter to our little town. It was that time where the news of a lifetime shook both Evelyn and me. "I would like to inform you all today… that I am retiring my right as Unova's Elite Four Champion." Everyone began murmuring all over the place that it soon led to an uproar. It took a moment for Krion to calm everyone down, "As you all know, I am getting pretty old to be Unova's Champion. I believe," He paused for dramatic effect, "That it is time for a new Champion to arise!" It was in that moment, that Krion pointed into the crowd and everyone began to move away until it was just Evelyn and I. It was then that I realized, her father had chosen her as the new champion of Unova.

It was by then a few weeks passed. It was around the time when Evelyn had prepared for the trip to the Pokemon league. Before she left, she had wanted to meet with me one more time before she left for good. I agreed to her request and met her at the park, where it was now covered in a thin layer of snow. It wasn't long until Evelyn came to the park with Eevee right beside her. It was then that I saw her clothes. She had changed from the regular shirt/shorts, shirt/jearns, sweater/shorts or the sweater/jeans combo. This time, she had on a pretty expensive trench coat that covered almost her entire body. Her hair and make-up had been also done differently to make her a little more presentable, although she was beyond presentable to begin with. It was then I finally broke out of just staring at her and finally spoke, "You look… amazing."

She began to blush, "Thank you."

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked her.

"Straight to the question I see."

"Better than beating around the bush."

She dropped her gaze. Something was troubling her and I needed to find out. "Tell me Evey, what's wrong?"

"Do you think I should do this?" She asked me with tears slowly falling down her face, "I don't feel like this is the right thing." She began to sob, "It just feels like I'm throwing away something that we had just blossomed. And…"

Without warning I had power-walked up to her without saying a word and instantly wrapped my arms around her. She was left speechless. She didn't expect me to do that. But once the idea slipped in, tears began to fall even more as she began to bawl out. "I'm sorry," I finally said to her, "But this is something bigger than you can think of." Evelyn continued to cry her eyes out, but I continued with what I wanted to say, "This is a most unbelievable opportunity for you Evelyn. Not only will you become Champion, you will get to travel all over Unova and see it's great wonders."

"But," she muttered through my clothes, "but I wanted to see all of Unova with you. This whole thing is bull!"

"I know it is," I said while attempting to keep my tears at bay, "but this is something your father hoped for you. He wants to give you the best he can give you. Can you really not accept something this momentous?"

"B-but… what about… us?" She said while looking straight at me.

"I guess… I guess this would be the end of the line for us. You have to follow the best future for you." I told her.

"I can't accept that," She shook her head, "You know I can't."

"We have no other choice. It's out of our hands now," And with that, tears began to fall from my own eyes.

It was then we couldn't handle it, and it was time for Evelyn to go. We held each other tightly for a moment more, hoping to cherish this memory. "Kiss me," Evelyn said to me, "One last time." It was then that we both kissed each other right inside of the park. We didn't care how long it took us. We didn't want to move, but we both knew that it had to happen at some point. Before she left, she picked up Eevee and had a small discussion with it. It was then she turned to me, "I want you to care for Eevee."

"Wh-what?"

"I want you to look after Eevee for me. I know you don't have a pokemon yet, let Eevee be your first pokemon. I think she would be better with you than with me."

I could not believe it. I would be taking care of Eevee? This… this is a going-away gift. No, not a give, but a promise, "I will," I told her as I held my arms out for Eevee to come with me. She then handed me its pokeball. At that time, she was gone. I was glad too, because I could no longer keep the tears from falling even harder.

**_- Pokemon: JoFD -_**

A year and a six months had passed since that day. Eevee fitted right into our house. Mom actually enjoys playing with Eevee when I don't bring her out to the park at times. Honestly, Eevee likes to take naps, but it knows when its time to get some fresh air. There are plenty of times where I would turn on the TV and see Evelyn onscreen defeating yet another trainer from becoming league champ. I gotta say, she knows how to handle her battles well. I mean there was this one time where a guy named Black beat her. But that was around her first few weeks of becoming the league champion. Since then, she's been annihilating each and every trainer who challenged her. However, at some point I turned off the TV. I couldn't handle seeing us apart… it just… hurt.

However, I could not stop watching even after it did hurt. Evelyn was special to me, and I couldn't just let that fade away. "What a battle that was folks!" yelled out the TV announcer who was announcing the ending of another battle against Evelyn, "I can't believe that no one is able to defeat Champion Evelyn folks, she is ON FIRE!"

I scoffed, "Well she's good at what she does."

"Do you trainers out there think you can face her?! I don't know about you folks, but if you face her, your future and dream to become the next league champion may soon well be over. That's all that we have for you today folks, see you next time!"

I turned off the TV right after he finished. And in that moment, something had finally clicked. I don't know why, but this time the announcer's words got stuck in my head. All about dreams and futures being completely over. "It's never over!" I said to myself. I shouldn't have left our ending like that. What had happened a year and a half ago was not OUR ending. It was just a little detour that would lead us to something greater. Why didn't I see that before?! Without giving it a second thought, I had made a decision. It seemed that when I turned to my mother, she had a compassionate smile on her face.

"So, you'll be finally going on your own journey?" She asked me.

"I have to go mom, I can't let things stay like this."

My mother then gave me the biggest hug I could ever imagine and let me go, "You have grown a lot Francis. I know you can take care of yourself. Just make sure to give me a call every now and then, okay?"

"I will mom," I said to her as I ran to the stairs, "And thank you for not stopping me."

With that I ran up the stairs and called out for Eevee. My mom, who still stayed down below only smiled even more, "Too be honest son, I don't think I can stop you regardless."

**_- Pokemon: JoFD -_**

It was nearing sunset when I finally had everything packed for the journey ahead. I was already at the edge of town looking at the first obstacle I had to face, the trek over the mountain. I decided to take a deep breath, knowing what I was about to do would change my life forever. I then looked at Eevee, who was sitting down next to me. I knelt down and began petting her, "Are you ready to get going Eevee?" She only let out a happy cry after I asked her. It was then I took one more deep breath, and started my journey.

Near the outskirts of town, Evelyn's dad watched as I passed the lines of town and began walking to where the next town would be over the mountain. He kept silent for the entire time he watched me. Moments after, a smile slowly crept onto his face, "Go… Go Francis Devlin. Go on your journey, make experiences, and make friendships along the way. You will need them for what you wanted to do. I give you my blessing."

I had my determination. I had the one goal in mind. Although my town is just behind me, there is no turning back. Not to this, not to what I want. This journey isn't just for me, but it means so much more. This journey will decide my future… and hers.

"League Champion Evelyn Bolton, I'm taking you down."


End file.
